OK really this Utah thing it's REAL

[CDesperado]

I say go for it. I am not religious, but some of the nicest people I have ever known were Mormons.

 

[manifoldsrme]

I want to jump in and clarify some of my remarks, but also point out that I have praised the Mormons in my prior posts. They are VERY family oriented, and that is a great thing for sure and I always respected that about them. However....

If you are a Mormon in another state, or a convert, you are VERY detached from the more hard core Mormons in UT. Think of it as being a Muslim in America, and then going to Iraq or Afghanistan and visiting Muslims there. There WILL be a huge difference.

I was certainly treated "different" by my Mormon friends parents, not so much my friends, as we were just all kids. Examples, in order to play baseball with my friends on their Mormon teams, I always had to have a "meeting" with an "elder" who would then give me a "recommend" card. To participate in ANYTHING, dance, scouts, sports etc I had to go through that humiliating process.

Then when I would participate I was certainly the odd man out, and different rules were applied to me. One time during a softball game I smashed a home run and before I could even begin to round the bases I was called "out". Why? Because apparently I had stepped out of the batters box on my wind up and swing through. I had NEVER seen this called before, or after on anyone else on the team who were Mormon.

I wanted to play Golf on the High School team as a freshman but was told I could not because freshman had to have 7 full credits and golf did not qualify as a credit. But every High School in UT has a Mormon seminary right there on the campus, and every Mormon kid takes at least one period a day in that seminary and guess what? It does not qualify as a credit. So Mormons can take 6 credit hours as long as one is seminary, but non Mormons have to have 7 full credits? BS! My parents sued the district, and they were certainly ostracized and treated very badly by the admins, the principal etc. I was there in the closed door meetings and heard true ignorance in defense of "their system". In the end we won and I played and lettered all 4 years on the team. But that Letterman jacket caused me A LOT of grief. Because football players and other kids sports could not letter until they were juniors and seniors, so I was the punk kid with the "undeserved" jacket who's parents had to sue for me to get it. The plus side was the fear that admins had of me and my parents, I could go into the registrars office and get ANY class I wanted, they did not want to deal with me.

I could go on and on and on. It is tough being a kid living around a majority of people who think they are better than you and treat you that way. That Mr Happy Johnson, IS TRUE IGNORANCE.

With everything above being said, there are many many many great Mormons, who will certainly go out of their way to help you out, but there are many who will help you, but then when they figure out you are not one of them, they all of a sudden lose the ambition to help that they had.

I have personally known many polygamists. It is everywhere, but they do not flaunt it and keep in hush hush for the most part. They will be the house on the block with the most trees so you can not see their business.

I would rather live in UT than Jersey, I will say that right now. UT is not a "BAD" place to live. As I said before, if you are family oriented, and can get along with people, there are plenty of Mormons who are friendly and warm and have great family values.

But I am sticking to my guns on the pregnancy thing. I never met a Mormon who considered pregnancy IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM to be a bad thing. Bottom line is spirit babies are a blessing, and pregnancy is just viewed as a positive. Period. I fully admit there are many Mormons who wait until they are married, and have gone on a mission etc. That is also a part of family values. But just like anywhere else, there is peer pressure, and the girls in UT were the loosest I have ever been around. Take that as you will. It is not meant to offend, it is just a stated fact.

LAYZ, take the trip, see for yourself. It is a beautiful part of the country, and I do not see how you could ever think Jersey is a better place to live. But just as anywhere, if you are not a part of the majority, you will never truly fit in. But that is ok, because there are plenty of great people, both Mormon and non Mormon in UT.

 

[BMR Suspension]

I want to jump in and clarify some of my remarks, but also point out that I have praised the Mormons in my prior posts. They are VERY family oriented, and that is a great thing for sure and I always respected that about them. However....

If you are a Mormon in another state, or a convert, you are VERY detached from the more hard core Mormons in UT. Think of it as being a Muslim in America, and then going to Iraq or Afghanistan and visiting Muslims there. There WILL be a huge difference.

I was certainly treated "different" by my Mormon friends parents, not so much my friends, as we were just all kids. Examples, in order to play baseball with my friends on their Mormon teams, I always had to have a "meeting" with an "elder" who would then give me a "recommend" card. To participate in ANYTHING, dance, scouts, sports etc I had to go through that humiliating process.

Then when I would participate I was certainly the odd man out, and different rules were applied to me. One time during a softball game I smashed a home run and before I could even begin to round the bases I was called "out". Why? Because apparently I had stepped out of the batters box on my wind up and swing through. I had NEVER seen this called before, or after on anyone else on the team who were Mormon.

I wanted to play Golf on the High School team as a freshman but was told I could not because freshman had to have 7 full credits and golf did not qualify as a credit. But every High School in UT has a Mormon seminary right there on the campus, and every Mormon kid takes at least one period a day in that seminary and guess what? It does not qualify as a credit. So Mormons can take 6 credit hours as long as one is seminary, but non Mormons have to have 7 full credits? BS! My parents sued the district, and they were certainly ostracized and treated very badly by the admins, the principal etc. I was there in the closed door meetings and heard true ignorance in defense of "their system". In the end we won and I played and lettered all 4 years on the team. But that Letterman jacket caused me A LOT of grief. Because football players and other kids sports could not letter until they were juniors and seniors, so I was the punk kid with the "undeserved" jacket who's parents had to sue for me to get it. The plus side was the fear that admins had of me and my parents, I could go into the registrars office and get ANY class I wanted, they did not want to deal with me.

I could go on and on and on. It is tough being a kid living around a majority of people who think they are better than you and treat you that way. That Mr Happy Johnson, IS TRUE IGNORANCE.

With everything above being said, there are many many many great Mormons, who will certainly go out of their way to help you out, but there are many who will help you, but then when they figure out you are not one of them, they all of a sudden lose the ambition to help that they had.

I have personally known many polygamists. It is everywhere, but they do not flaunt it and keep in hush hush for the most part. They will be the house on the block with the most trees so you can not see their business.

I would rather live in UT than Jersey, I will say that right now. UT is not a "BAD" place to live. As I said before, if you are family oriented, and can get along with people, there are plenty of Mormons who are friendly and warm and have great family values.

But I am sticking to my guns on the pregnancy thing. I never met a Mormon who considered pregnancy IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM to be a bad thing. Bottom line is spirit babies are a blessing, and pregnancy is just viewed as a positive. Period. I fully admit there are many Mormons who wait until they are married, and have gone on a mission etc. That is also a part of family values. But just like anywhere else, there is peer pressure, and the girls in UT were the loosest I have ever been around. Take that as you will. It is not meant to offend, it is just a stated fact.

LAYZ, take the trip, see for yourself. It is a beautiful part of the country, and I do not see how you could ever think Jersey is a better place to live. But just as anywhere, if you are not a part of the majority, you will never truly fit in. But that is ok, because there are plenty of great people, both Mormon and non Mormon in UT.

If you change a few words, you just described my growing up in Upstate New York going to Catholic Schools not being Catholic. I couldn't play Sports without being approved, wasn't allowed by Catholic Parents to go out with their Daughters (even though they put out more than a Stripper), was the guy left out, etc.

In other words, it can happen anywhere!

LAYZ, go & see if you like it. At this Point you don't have anything to lose. I've only been to Utah once and that was to race at Miller Motorsports Park. Everything was Clean, People were nice. I felt like I was in a weird movie as I didn't see one Minority Person the whole time. I did get Nosebleeds (the only time in my life) from it being so dry & dusty - at the Track, we had to stop racing because of a Dust Storm.

 

[kenny77]

I would go there and really talk to people that are not Mormons. That will tell the tale.

Just going there with...."An open mind" like Todd says, is NOT enough. You get some kind of pie in the sky feeling just to find out a year or so later you made a huge mistake moving there.

You need to hear some real life stories from those that live there...before you decide what to do.